The Russian Princess Maria Barjatinskaja came to Rome in 1818 with her husband. At his wish, she was modelled by Thorvaldsen. The marble sculpture was created in 1821-25, but was never delivered. After the Princess’s death, her family demanded to have the statue handed over, but instead accepted a copy made by Thorvaldsen’s most important Danish apprentice, the sculptor H. W. Bissen. Today the sculpture is in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.